Imperial Duelists
Trained in esteemed schools, the discarded nobility of the Imperium often takes up a power sword to earn the esteemed title of maestro or die trying. These largely unaffiliated schools of battle lore produce some of the finest duelists in the Imperium, bar none. Trained in the harestes traditions gathered and synthesized from a thousand feudal worlds they are peerless martialists who can slay xenos and traitor alike. Ranks Initiate: A prospective student who is only allowed to train with a melee weapon. Armiger: A senior student who has trained for at least 5 years. They have given an oath of fealty to a more senior duelist who has sword to train them. The duelist who accepts them normally equips them and sees their their room and board when they accept them. Armigers may be sworn to a maestro but, typically, are trained by a don / donna. Don / Donna: A respected teacher who has been acknowledged by at least 3 maestro or one gran maestro. They wear a scarf around one’s sleeve with the heraldry of their collegio (school) on the end. Don / Donna can teach new students and accept fielty from armigers. A don / donna must be sworn to a maestro or gran maestro. Often they are an armiger whose don / donna has been made a maestro. Maestro: A maestro is an admitted master of a given collegio and they are in charge of a training facility. They can be identified by a white sash they wear across their chest. Gran Maestro: The most senior maestros are granted the title of “gran maestro” or “master”. They are the head of an entire collegio, though larger ones may have 2-5 gran maestros who oversee multiple training collegi and form a “grande consiglio” (grand council) or a collegio. Skill Duelists are often the equal of even Astartes in melee combat but not their power (and astartes masters many fields of combat to the level that a duelist masters melee combat). They are used to fighting impossible enemies like Eldar, Daemons, and Tyranids despite their relatively unmodified human stature and still can hold their own; they are used to being outclassed and always fight with that assumption in mind. The term “duelist” is something of a misnomer as they are not specialists in dueling but in general combat with power weapons. The secret to their superhuman feats of skill are not known. Theories abound but at least part of it involves auto-hypno-indoctrinated kinesthetic reflexes (self hypnosis to perform certain actions when met with certain circumstances) and a unique training regimine that lets them move individual muscles in isolation from those around it (they can move just their ring finger’s final knuckle, for example). This coupled with an apparent supernatural sense of proprioception (the relative position of one's own parts of the body and strength of effort being employed in movement) and decades (sometimes centuries) of training makes them some of the finest melee combatants the Imperium has to offer. Equipment Many of the power swords used by the order are large and have been passed down for generations, master to student. Occasionally, as many come from noble or at least wealthy families, they come with their own equipment. The majority of the melee weapons they use are two-handed. The following is the standard equipment for the various ranks of duelist: * Initiate: A single melee weapon and sidearm. * Armiger: A power sword, flack armor, a side arm, and either a frag or krak grenade. * Don / Donna: A power sword, displacer field, carapace armor, a side arm, and either a frag or krak grenade. * Maestro: A mastercraft power sword, displacer field, carapace armor, a side arm, and either a frag and krak grenade. * Gran Maestro: A relic blade (equivalent), refractor field, power armor, a side arm, and frag and krak grenade. Training New students begin with unpowered weapons, though they always use live steel. Their early instruction is in tactics, personal combat, military theory, the use of many weapons, and intense physical training. Many will train for 5 years before they touch a real power weapon and 60% fail before then. They start with simple power swords and eventually begin to expand their knowledge to wider battlefield tactics and the roles they will fill. After achieving the rank of don/donna they begin specialized training in certain weapon styles and leadership. Maestro/Gan Maestros undertake wider cultural and political education, though this is largely self-directed, in addition to the most intense training their school can offer. Frequent duels are fought between duelist; sometimes for honor and sometimes simply to sharpen their skills. Duels between gran maestros are rare and fantastic events with hundreds of people coming out to see them. Duelists are famous for their “three way duels” which require both tactics and mind games. Collegio and Imperial Charters A duelist school, referred to as a “collegio” (lit. “College”) are created only by an Imperial charter granted by the Adeptus Administratum. Their charter is an almost irrevocable and perpetual writ that authorizes the one who holds it to run a duelist collegio. Each charter is different and, much like a Rogue Trader’s Warrant of Trade, has a number of provisions that must be filled. These are often requirements for the school to maintain a certain number of skilled and armed duelists as guards, teachers, or soldiers for a specific organization. Other requirements might be that they protect a certain relic, practice certain rites, always train certain individuals free of charge (often Imperial Guard officers, children of certain noble families, scion primes, or even space marines initiates, etc). A charter also describes how large a collegio can be; how many armigers, dons / donnas, maestros, and gran maestros can be employed by the school. This makes competition for advancement fierce. The charter also comes with a sizable grant of funding and military equipment and as failure to fulfil a charter is the only way it can be revoked, collegi tend to over-deliver on their promises to avoid even the appearance of a breach of charter. There are only a few dozen authorized collegi but many underground collegi exist. These “collegio ribelle” (“rebel college”) are often used to train heretical forces, separatist movements, and serve not as imperial servants but as mercenaries who pretend to have a sense of honor. Worst still there are collegio dedicated to the chaos god Khorne who seduce young students with the promise of unlimited martial prowess. Most who attend these heretical institutions become fodder for bloodletter or, worse yet, become bloodletters themselves. Recruitment Most initiates come from well to do families, often noble ones, though to dedicate your life to becoming a duelist is not considered a noble pursuit. As such, most noble duelists are the younger children who do not have a solid shot at inheritance. For this reason the organization has earned the pejorative nickname, the “Second Sons” or the “Legion of the Disinherited”. A smaller percentage of initiates come from military organizations and many of those will not grow beyond the rank of Armiger before being returned to their duty with the Guard. Those who attend the school must pay for their attendance. The cost for training could buy a house in nice sector so it is out of the reach of many students. The collegio’s charter compels it to train certain people for free and creates subsidies for those who show prowess. Once one becomes an amriger the cost for training is greatly reduced and most of it is absorbed by the one who takes their oath. They “pay” for their training though service; helping train initiates, fighting for the collegio, taking assignments, and whatever other services might be required of them. Only a small percentage of initiates make it to becoming armiger, a staggering 60% fail out in the first 5 years, so collegi are always accepting new initiates. Some have so many initiatives and so few spots for armigers an underclass of armiger-ready initiates, called “slingers” for short, has developed. Slingers are initiates with the skill of an armiger but without the rank due to size restrictions of the collegio’s charter. The term “slinger” can also apply to a don / donna who are ready to advance to the rank of maestro but elder maestro have not retired yet. Armigner Squads Ten armigers, under the command of a don or donna, are deployed on the battlefield. Often assigned as bodyguards to Inquisitors, high ranking military officials, or political leaders they are deadly at close range. They are occasionally fielded as independent units as auxiliaries for PDF or Imperial Guard regiments under the command of a maestro or even a gran maestro if the contingent is large enough. Notable Collegio There are only a few dozen authorized collegi but a few stand out of the most important/ Spada Sacra The oldest and largest school is the “Collegio Della Spada Celeste” (“College of the Holy Sword”) on Terra. It’s charter requires that it maintain a large stockpile of power weapons for use by officers of the Ordo Tempestus. Their most senior gran maestro takes the title of “Gran Maestro Terra” and is the de facto representative for all the duelist collegio in the Imperium. He is said to wield a blade known as “Terra’s Might” that is theorized by some to be a two-handed c’tan phase weapon, or at least something equivalent. Spada Sacra regularly train and Tempestus Scions. Spada Sacra are also noted for the fact that they maintain the power axes of the elite Fist of Sol and train them in martial combat. The current Gran Maestro Terra is Lady Fiora Barozzi, a position she inherited recently from her predecessor in a duel to the death. Iron Eye A rare school, chartered by the Adeptus Administratum at the behest of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica that created a school that would train psyker duelists. They are chartered to train students of the Scholastica Psykana in the use of force weapons and maintain a stock of force swords for use by the Scholastica Psykana. These psy-duelists are a rare breed because they require the same level of discipline of a normal duelist while still dedicating themselves to the control of their power. The school itself was founded by its only gran maestro, an alpha grade psyker duelist named Jobst Von Villingen. The gran maestro is thought to be over three hundred years due to life extension technologies, and is still teaching. Avonal (Collegio Ribelle) Once the Avonal collegio was the equal of any other duellist collegio, rivaling even Spada Sacra in power and prestige, but their arrogance was their downfall. Their Gran Maestro sought greater glories and offered their services to a number of black-market clients and, at first, they became wealthy beyond their wildest imagination. It was eventually determined that they had aided a number of heretics evade capture and killed an Inquisitor during one skirmish. They were cast out of the Imperium, their charter destroyed by Inquisitorial edict, and they were hunted by all other collegio. For 120 years the quest to eradicate them down to their last armiger was a rite of passage for many dons and donnas. Today they still exist, shattered yet still maintaining their collegio in secret. They hide deep in a hive city on the Hive World of Lo. They use the famous Loi-Pattern Burning Blades and accept jobs from anyone- particularly those who want to kill Inquisitors or other duelists. They have become assassins for hire and bodyguards for the criminal underworld. The eye of their last “official” gran maestro, Filippo Avonal, is sealed in crystal and serves as the pommel of Jobst Von Villingen, gran maestro of the Iron Eye collegio. Senza Corona The “Collegio Della Senza Corona” (“College of the Uncrowned”) is a school that has a secret clause in their charter that requires to take in the bastard children of important political figures and keep their nature secret, even from the bastards themselves. Senza Corona duelists are famous for their production of several Inquisitors who went on to have exceptional careers but also for their close relationship with the Yoddha space marine chapter. Senza Corona maestros train, spar with, and sometimes deploy alongside the Yoddha marines. Because of their relationship with the chapter they are expertly skilled at slaying daemons. Their gran maestro, Daddo Fiorina, once dueled champion of Khorne to a standstill. They are famous for partaking in the Extermination of Hollenschlund campaign and gallantly guardian the virus bomb that killed a billion Ragdans during a suicide mission. Cani di Guerra The “War Dogs” are a collegio of great repute that pairs the skill of a duelist with the ferocity of a war hound. Each duelist begins their training with a canes belli war hound pup. By the time they reach armiger they are expected to employ a pack of 3-6 with them on the battlefield. Little is known of them or the exact nature of their because their main training hall is somewhere in the Ghoul Stars where they seem to maintain a vigil over something. Duelists of Note Gran Maestro Daddo Fiorina (Senza Corona): A mortal man who once dueled champion of Khorne to a standstill. He is noted to have an insatiable taste for fine wine and even finer women. Rumor has it that he’s the bastard of a high ranking Inquisitor. Gran Maestro Fiorina is regarded by scholars on such things as the finest man with a blade in all of the Imperium, including Astartes. His disregard of danger and his wanton indulgences keep him from being considered a hero of the Imperium, though none can match his skill even today let alone when he was in his prime. He is one of those strange and lucky creature that found his perfect niche and just excelled at it. His skill is so legendary it is said that he is hounded by Khorne's followers as it is a right of passage to attempt to kill him. If the rumors are to be believed Khorne himself has put a bounty on him and said that any of his followers that can best Daddo in honorable single combat will be made a Daemon Prince. Fiorina's only known loss since becoming a Gran Maestro was a duel where he fought Zhao the Tempest from the Order of the Stone Lion chapter to a standstill in a friendly sparring contest. Gran Maestro Jobst Von Villingen (Iron Eye): An alpha level psyker who has lived for over 300 years. He is famed not only for his skill with a force weapon but his insights into the minds of psykers. He has brought many of his students back from the edge and trained an untold number to better control their powers. Gran Maestro Terra, Lady Fiora Barozzi (Spada Sacra): A cold and calculating duelist who is said to pull the strings behind several powerful families through their students in her collegio. Her political prowess is only matched by her skill with a sword. She is said to be able to move not unlike an assassin and rumors abound about her mysterious and unknown childhood. Donna Olimpia DeLuca (Senza Corona): Sister to the current chapter master of the Emperor’s Servants space marine chapter, Olimpia is donna of the Senza Corona school. She is famous for her defeat of a Lictor in single combat. It resulted in the loss of on her arm, which has since been replaced with a more powerful cybernetic equivalent. She died gallantly during the suicide mission protecting a virus bomb during the final battle in the Extermination of Hollenschlund campaign. Her two daughters are now armigers in the Senza Corona collegio. Gran Alpha (Cani di Guerra): Gran Alpha is not a duelist but a canes belli war hound who refuses to die. Two hundred years old this ancient war hound is as big as a bear and many times as deadly. Its intelligent is almost on par with an ogryn (though it lacks speech) and it has an unbelievable ability to recover from almost any injury. It has been the companion of the gran maestro of the Cani di Guerra collegio for a century and sired an entire bloodline. Gan Maestro Cagli Capo Ferro: Cagli is an ancient duelist that most consider nothing more than folklore. If you believe the rumors Cagli was the duelist- the very first. It is said that he received his charter directly from Malcador himself and still roams the stars to this very day. Dons warn their armigers that if they get too cocky Maestro Capo Ferro will come out of the warp and challenge them to a duel they can’t accept. Oddly, ships traveling through the warp sometimes describe a man looking a exactly like Cagli Capo Ferro, complete with his red hair, different colored eyes, and antique rapier. Reports like these by people who have no connection to the duelist community pop up every for years and lend credence to the legend that Cagli is doing what he promised when he last was last seen, “''Going to find Khorne and kill that cheating bastard''” for taking his most beloved pupil. Don Bythos Sige: A respected don by the name of Bythos Sige was reported to have been a member of the Senza Corona colleigo, though he was apparently killed under mysterious circumstances and never heard from again. He is possibly the same Bythos Sige that the Inquisition refers to as the “Sige Entity”. Armiger Nigel Wadsworth: Armiger Wadsworth is a cautionary tale that dons and donnas tell their students. He thought he could best an astarte and found out, the hard way, that most fights between a duelist and an astarte do not go in the favor of a duelist. While a maestro may be an equal in skill at arms with a battle brother, an astartes has many more tools and a mastery equal to that of a duelist in other areas as well. Nigel’s skull is said to adorn the helm of a battle barge under the command of the Emperor’s Marauders to this day after he insulted one and challenge them to a duel. 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